Chapter 1469: Yuan Se Slain by the Saber

Figures flashed behind them. Guan Fangyi rushed out as well, only to stop at the sight of the confrontation ahead.

Yun Ji, still wounded, came out next. Seeing Yuan Se standing there with a smile on his face, she too stopped.

When no further reaction came from ahead, the others emerged one after another. Yuan Fang cowered at the rear, peeking around furtively.

Lü Wushuang came last, picking her way unevenly through the passage. The standoff before her was already surprising enough, but Yuan Se’s reaction surprised her even more.

Yin’er was still uncomfortable from that strange tiger roar. Looking around uneasily, she moved close to Niu Youdao and grabbed his sleeve, refusing to let go.

“Cough...”

Yuan Se suddenly made a sound that was neither quite a cough nor anything else.

Something seemed to lose the strength holding it together.

A patch of red appeared across his chest.

The red spread, staining downward over a broad area.

It continued all the way to the bottom of his clothes until, in the silent passage, the sound of liquid dripping onto the ground could be heard.

Everyone’s gaze dropped beneath his robes.

Blood was flowing down.

More of it rapidly streamed from his trouser legs and around his feet.

This...

Realization dawned on everyone.

One after another, they turned toward Yuan Gang, who still crouched with both hands on his saber.

Shock gradually filled their eyes.

Disbelief covered their faces.

Yuan Gang’s battle intent remained fierce. He still held the posture of a tiger about to spring, watching Yuan Se with extreme vigilance, ready to attack again at any moment.

The smell of blood spread through the passage.

A large pool had already soaked across the ground.

Yuan Se remained rigidly upright, but his face had gone pale. It seemed he could no longer control his body. His figure began to sway slightly.

He appeared unwilling to fall.

But as the angle of his swaying grew larger, his upper body suddenly bent backward at an impossible angle.

His chest folded diagonally toward the rear.

The movement dragged the rest of his body with it.

With a heavy crash, Yuan Se toppled backward and smashed onto the ground.

Yuan Se?

Sacred Venerable Dayuan?

The group that had hurried over stared in stunned disbelief.

A white-furred bat suddenly shot out of the darkness ahead and fluttered chaotically through the tunnel.

Swish!

Yuan Gang abruptly swung his saber.

Something dropped to the ground with a soft slap.

The white bat had been cut cleanly in two and writhed on the earth.

Only then did Yuan Gang straighten, saber in hand. His steps steady, he walked toward Yuan Se and eventually stopped beside the fallen body without speaking.

He too fell into silence, thinking back over the state of mind and sensation behind the saber stroke he had just unleashed.

Niu Youdao and the others slowly approached as well.

Looking down, they discovered that Yuan Se’s chest had been almost completely severed.

Only the flesh and skin across his back remained connected.

His torso had been split open entirely. The bloody cross-section exposed by the way his upper body had folded backward was nauseating to behold.

Yuan Se had died just like that?

Yuan Gang had killed him?

Everyone looked at the corpse, then at the silent Yuan Gang.

It still felt like a dream.

They had not even recovered from the terror of the previous moments, and in the blink of an eye it had ended like this?

Niu Youdao finally recovered enough to ask, “You killed him?”

Yuan Gang gave a slight nod. Even he seemed to find it difficult to believe. “I think so.”

Niu Youdao asked, “That third tiger roar just now—it came from the third Crouching Tiger?”

Yuan Gang looked at the saber in his hands and silently nodded.

Niu Youdao continued, “I didn’t hear any other sounds of fighting. There were only three tiger roars, and the whole exchange was over almost instantly. Did you use only one saber stroke?”

Yuan Gang nodded again. “Yes. One stroke.”

Several people sucked in sharp breaths.

One saber stroke had killed Yuan Se?

Those who knew Yuan Gang’s situation, like Yun Ji, understood that his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds and that he could even contend with the Holy Rakshasa in brute force.

Even so, none of them had imagined he could kill Yuan Se with a single strike.

Niu Youdao said, “The saying goes: ‘When Crouching Tiger wakes, none beneath Heaven can stand against it.’”

His tone was almost a question.

Surely the person wielding the saber had felt it most clearly.

“None beneath Heaven?” Yuan Gang looked at Yuan Se’s corpse and slowly said, “Maybe it’s true. But it definitely doesn’t refer to me.”

“It should mean this saber in the hands of a cultivator. In the hands of someone like me, there’s no way it could truly make me invincible beneath Heaven.”

“He was careless. I never expected him to stand there and take my saber head-on without dodging.”

“By the time he realized something was wrong, he was caught off guard. Otherwise, it would have been extremely difficult for me to injure him.”

“If I meet someone like this again, outside an environment like this, I’m afraid I wouldn’t even be able to get close.”

On that point, those who understood the situation did not doubt him.

Yuan Gang could not even fly. How could he possibly chase down an expert like Yuan Se?

They could also see, or at least guess, that even Yuan Gang himself had been surprised.

Otherwise, he would not have told everyone to run earlier.

At the time he clearly had no confidence at all. He had simply staked his life on tying Yuan Se down long enough to buy everyone else a little time to escape.

Lü Wushuang spoke. “There is no need to belittle yourself too much.”

“Yuan Se cultivated an unusual art. His body was impervious to blades and spears. Back when all Nine Saints were still alive, none of them could easily break through his physical defenses.”

“And now you killed him with one saber stroke. That alone proves the power of your strike.”

“When Xi Wuxian said, ‘When Crouching Tiger wakes, none beneath Heaven can stand against it,’ he was probably referring to the unstoppable power this saber can unleash when all the right conditions come together.”

“But there is one thing I believe: beneath Heaven, there is probably no one who can take that saber stroke from you head-on.”

The look she gave Yuan Gang was complicated.

At the rear, Yuan Fang stared at Yuan Gang as though looking at a monster.

Niu Youdao said, “There are more urgent matters. We’ll discuss this later. We cannot remain here.”

He looked back and signaled Yuan Gang to deal with the body.

Yuan Gang immediately searched Yuan Se from head to toe, stripping away anything useful.

Afterward, with Yun Ji’s help, he sank Yuan Se’s corpse into the earth.

As the group hurried away, they collapsed the passage behind them, burying Yuan Se deep within the mountain.

The moment they emerged from the cave, Niu Youdao immediately said to Guan Fangyi, “Yuan Se is dead. When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Dayuan Sacred Land has lost its qualification to sway Misty Pavilion.”

“Even if they now know Yuan Fang was Luo Qiu’s inside man, it no longer matters. Even if Misty Pavilion learns the truth, they won’t dare casually move against Luo Qiu’s people.”

“Whether Consort Yuan lives or dies is no longer important. Let Sha Rulai decide how to handle her himself.”

“The urgent matter now is Luo Fangfei.”

“She cannot hold out much longer.”

“Have Sha Rulai organize an assault and put on a convincing show of rescuing her, so Luo Qiu has no reason to become suspicious. Then get Luo Fangfei to the Ghost Doctor as quickly as possible for treatment!”

“All right!” Guan Fangyi immediately took people with her and left.

Yuan Fang eagerly trotted after them back toward the city.

Now that he knew Yuan Se was dead, and after hearing Niu Youdao’s explanation, his courage had returned.

He was no longer afraid.

Before this, he probably would have trembled at the mere sight of anyone from Dayuan Sacred Land.

After living through a scene like this himself, however, things immediately felt different.

Niu Youdao’s group did not dare remain here either. They prepared to move to another hiding place.

Yin’er, however, tugged on his sleeve and refused to let go.

She was still holding a grudge. “Dao-Dao, you hit me!”

Niu Youdao tugged at his sleeve. Seeing that she had clamped down stubbornly and looked genuinely angry, he immediately changed to a smiling face. “Be good, Yin’er. I’ll give you lots and lots of chicken legs, all right?”

The anger vanished from Yin’er’s face in an instant.

Her eyes sparkled as she nodded repeatedly. “All right.”

Then her eyes rolled upward.

Niu Youdao’s hand, which had been stroking her head, pinched the back of her neck and knocked her unconscious again.

The group swiftly departed.

Only after finding another secluded place to settle did everyone finally release a breath.

Beneath a solitary moon in the mountains, Niu Youdao sat alone on a summit, gazing toward the provincial capital.

Lü Wushuang came up slowly, lifting her skirt as she picked her way over the uneven ground. She stopped beside him. “Frightened in hindsight?”

“A little,” Niu Youdao admitted.

“I told you not to take unnecessary risks. Sometimes, what must be sacrificed has to be sacrificed. If you cannot put aside that bit of sentiment, you are courting death.”

“I’ll remind you again.”

“The Six Sacred Venerables are not like the other people you dealt with in the past. Anyone who survived until now is no fool.”

“They are different from those below them. They have few restraints, and on top of that they possess overwhelming personal strength and power.”

“When you directly cross hands with people like them, once they seize on one flaw, it becomes extremely difficult to recover.”

“Without absolute confidence, you cannot recklessly take risks.”

“You will not be this lucky every time.”

Niu Youdao remained silent. Whether he had truly taken the warning to heart was impossible to tell.

...

The damage to Maolu Annex itself was not especially severe.

The struggle underground had simply caused a huge sinkhole to collapse through the middle of the annex and left several buildings leaning crookedly.

The structures around Maolu Annex had suffered far worse.

When Luo Qiu and Yuan Se plunged underground from the annex and later burst out elsewhere, the devastating force of their battle instantly reduced many nearby buildings to rubble.

The Prince’s residence next door had not been inside the immediate battle zone and escaped the worst of it.

Even so, repairing Maolu Annex would require a great deal of earth simply to fill the enormous pit, and several buildings would need to be rebuilt.

The people of Dayuan Sacred Land remained on high alert.

As for the people of Maolu Annex itself, the battle had frightened them into scattering who knew where.

Inside one undamaged hall, the restraints on Consort Yuan had been removed.

Someone forced her down into a chair.

Her spiritual power remained sealed, while all four limbs had suffered serious injuries. She could not stand.

Yuan Chun waved a hand and dismissed everyone else.

Then she stood smiling before Consort Yuan.

Not the slightest trace remained of the meek, deferential maidservant she had once seemed to be.

“Never thought this day would come, did you?” Yuan Chun asked with a smile. “Want to know how you exposed yourself?”

Consort Yuan was drained by her injuries. “I do. Tell me.”

She truly wanted to understand.

Yuan Chun took out a small silver bottle from her sleeve and waved it before Consort Yuan’s eye. “You switched my things. Did you really think I wouldn’t know?”

“I put a secret mark on everything I use.”

So that was where the problem had been!

Consort Yuan gave a cold laugh. “So because you exposed me, Yuan Se rewarded you, and now you think you have the right to strut in front of me?”

Smack!

A resounding slap sent blood spilling from Consort Yuan’s mouth and nose.

Yuan Chun shook out the hand she had used to strike her. “You’re thinking too much.”

“From the moment that eye of yours was gouged out, the Sacred Venerable began guarding against you.”

“He worried you might harbor resentment.”

“From that day onward, I was acting under orders to watch your every move.”

A miserable smile appeared on Consort Yuan’s face.

But she no longer seemed to care.

She shook her head. “And you came here just to tell me this?”

Yuan Chun said, “What I find strange is this: at Dayuan Sacred Land, you already stood beneath one and above ten thousand.”

“Was there really any need to throw yourself under Luo Qiu?”

“What benefit did Luo Qiu offer you?”

Consort Yuan asked, “Did Yuan Se send you to interrogate me? Why doesn’t he come ask me himself?”

This interrogation had nothing to do with Yuan Se.

Yuan Se had not yet returned.

Yuan Chun simply had nothing better to do, so she saw no harm in questioning Consort Yuan herself.

She said blandly, “Speak honestly. If you tell me everything, perhaps I can still give you a quick death and spare you some torment.”

“You have no right to interrogate me. Have Yuan Se come himself!”

“I have no right?” Yuan Chun gave a strange laugh.

Then she suddenly bent down and whispered into Consort Yuan’s ear.

“In my eyes, you are nothing but a joke!”

“Let me tell you a secret.”

“My true identity is the Sacred Venerable’s lawfully wedded wife. We formally bowed to Heaven and Earth together.”

“He is my husband.”

Grief and fury flashed across Consort Yuan’s face.

Then she suddenly threw back her head and burst into laughter.

She laughed until she bent forward and backward.

She laughed until tears streamed down her face.

Yuan Chun grabbed her hair. “You didn’t expect that, did you?”

Consort Yuan laughed until she started coughing.

Only after finally steadying herself did she say with open delight, “I understand now.”

“Yuan Se did not send you here to interrogate me.”

“You came on your own.”

“He should not be here right now.”

“Because he would never dare let you interrogate me.”

[End of Chapter 1469]